Spain’s first astronaut appointed Minister of Science in new Government

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has named Spain’s first astronaut, Pedro Duque, as minister of science.

Mr Duque last went to space in 2003 as part of an International Space Station (ISS) mission. The aeronautical engineer was selected by the European Space Agency’s astronaut corps in 1992 and became the first Spaniard to travel to space in 1998, when he joined Nasa’s STS-95 mission from Cape Canaveral. Mr Duque served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on the nine-day mission.

In the meantime former defence minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal, currently the PP’s deputy head, is tipped as best positioned to take Rajoy’s role, after his resignation from the Party Leadership.

Others include former deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria and the president of the northwestern region of Galicia, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who is close to the ousted prime minister.

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